Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is an American quiz show featuring trivia in topics such as history, literature, the arts, pop culture, and science. Unlike other game shows, Jeopardy! has a unique answer-and-question format in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in the form of a question.

Alex Trebek: Thank you all very much ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of all of us, welcome to America's favorite answer-and-question game, Jeopardy! You know how we play it. We provide the categories and the answers, and it's then up to our contestants to give us the right questions. Players, as you know, anytime you recognize an answer, you're free to ring in. However, I do want to to caution you about the Jeopardy! If you are wrong, the value of the answer will be deducted from your score. But, to help you add to your winnings, we have hidden somewhere on the board, a "Daily Double". If you're lucky enough to uncover that, then you have a chance to double any or all of your winnings up to that point in the round. And it's very important that you try to win as much money as possible, because only the player with the most cash at the end of the day will wind up keeping his or her winnings. All right, we will play the game until you hear this sound... [beep] That will signify that that particular round is over. If you're all set to begin, pick up your signaling buttons, but do not ring in until the answer is fully exposed. If you're ready, then let us play Jeopardy!.

from the series premiere on September 10, 1984

Alex: That does it for the first round. We have David with a 400-point lead over Stephen. Lynn at $-100. You can all relax for a few minutes.

Lynn: Why am I minus? Tell me, give me a good reason! I've been answering. I've been beeping. These beastly people next to me are not helping. They don't say, After you, Lynn, like real gentlemen. What's the matter?

[Laughter]

Alex: Does the word... stupid mean anything?

Lynn: See me to my car.

Alex: Yes I will, stand over here, you're gonna have a lot of fun in the second round.

Alex: This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker.

[Ken rings in]

Alex: Ken.

Ken: What's a hoe?

Alex: No.

[the audience laughs in reaction]

Alex: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa. They teach you that in school in Utah, huh?

[Al rings in]

Alex: Al.

Al: What's a rake?

Alex: A rake is right.

[Final Jeopardy! in Ken Jennings' final game; the category is "Business and Industry", and the answer is "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only 4 months a year".]

Alex: Nancy, you wrote down your response rather quickly, I thought. I hope it's correct. Let's take a look.

Nancy Zerg: I hope so too.

Alex: What is H&R Block? You're right.

{Nancy laughs]

Alex: Your wager? 4,401. Taking you up to 14,401. You have a one dollar lead over Ken Jennings right now. And his final response was...

[Ken slams on his podium; the audience gasps]

Alex: Fed Ex. His wager was... 5,601. He winds up in second place with 8,799. And Nancy Zerg, congratulations! You are indeed a giant killer! Our new Jeopardy! champion! 14,401! Ken, take a look at the audience! The audience is not only paying tribute to Nancy, but to you, as well. All good things have to come to an end, don't they? Well, too bad for Ken. But he is going home with a lot of money. $2.5 million. Congratulations, young man. Nancy will be back tomorrow to defend for the first time. We will see her, 2 new players, and you then. So long everybody.

[Final Jeopardy! in the first game of the IBM Challenge; the category is "U.S. Cities", and the answer is "Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero; its second-largest for a World War II battle".]

Alex: We come to you, Ken. You had $2,400 for this final going in, and you wrote down "What is Chicago?" That is correct, and you wagered... $2,400, that doubles your score to $4,800. Down to Brad, now, and he had $5,400. I have to feel that he came up with the correct response. Did he? [Brad's answer is also revealed to be "What is Chicago?"] Yes, and the wager? Throwing in almost everything you can, $5,000 takes you up to $10,400. Now to our leader, Watson. Going into the final with $36,681, and the response was...

[Watson reveals its response to be "What is Toronto?????", leading to audible gasps from the IBM engineers in the audience]

Alex: What is... Toronto? With a lot of question marks, which means of course that Watson had many, many doubts. And the wager, how much are you going to lose? [Watson's wager is revealed to be $947] Oh, you sneak!

[The final game of the IBM Challenge, with the Final Jeopardy clue being "William Wilkinson’s ‘an account of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia’ inspired this authors’s most famous novel". The correct question was "Who is Bram Stoker?"]